PPP blames govt for fare hikes
The Progressive People’s Party (PPP) has blamed the government of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for the recent increases in transport fares and not the Ghana Private Road and Transport Union (GPRTU)).
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The party stressed that the GPRTU could not be blamed as the government sought to do through the National Petroleum Authority (NPA).
A statement by the National Secretary of the party, Mr Murtala Mohammed , explained that petroleum price increment was one of the major components that determined the prices of many products and services the world over.
However, the PPP said, it was not the only determining factor for transport fares in Ghana.
“We know the general economy, cost of spare parts, cost of insurance, the value of our currency and the roads in your country are all factors that come to play in arriving at the transport fares,” the PPP stated.
Fuel prices
According to the statement, Ghanaians knew of the 30 per cent increment in fuel prices from June to December 2015, but the GPRTU did not increase the transport fares then.
“It would be unfair to accuse the GPRTU of increasing the cost of transportation when the prices of fuel are down. This is because the government did not ask the GPRTU to increase transport fares when the prices were up,” it stated.
‘’This is the height of hypocrisy and the government must retract its accusations on the GPRTU,’’ the statement said.
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]Stabilise cedi
The PPP, therefore, implored the government to work on stabilising the cedi to reduce the cost of importing vehicles and spare parts into Ghana.
“We are also aware that the government of Ghana’s import duties are quoted in United State dollars. The expensive import duties have compounded the difficult conditions facing the transport service providers”, the PPP stated.
Secondly, the PPP said, the government must improve the quality of the roads to reduce the rate of wear and tear on the vehicles and review the recent increment by 300 per cent in insurance cover.
“The GPRTU is a group of business owners who are also suffering from the recent outrageous increment in the utility prices and they need to survive this harsh economic condition, the PPP insisted, saying “Government is responsible for this increment in transport fares, period!”
It will be recalled that the leadership of the People’s National Convention (PNC) yesterday called on organised labour, civil society organisations and ordinary Ghanaians to exert more pressure on the government to drastically reduce or remove the taxes on petroleum that have culminated in the higher transport fares.